


The Truth Is Sealed On Your Lips

by CourierNinetyTwo



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: (or a series of firsts), F/F, First Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-14 21:26:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13016457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CourierNinetyTwo/pseuds/CourierNinetyTwo
Summary: It took years for the two of them to reach this moment. Fareeha doesn't regret a thing.





	The Truth Is Sealed On Your Lips

**Author's Note:**

> Commissioned by thehaakun!

Their first kiss was at the end of their third date, just a moment after Angela promised to text Fareeha when she got home.

At least, that was the story they agreed to tell everyone when asked.

That left out last year's holiday celebration, which Fareeha had arrived to three hours late with a gallon full of incredibly intoxicating eggnog. She went around the room pouring a bit into everyone's cups, taking the casual wine and cider buzz weaving its way through the evening and replacing it with a more festive, red-faced cheer. Reinhardt's voice boomed with old stories of fighting in snow, with Brigitte and Torbjörn adding their own commentary between sips. Most were critiques of First Omnic War tech, and Fareeha was quietly grateful she'd skipped those battles by a generation.

Lena was already half-asleep on Emily's lap in an overstuffed armchair; even with the accelerator, a body in constant flux meant she could either drink all night or conked out after her first cup -- and tonight seemed to be the latter. Fareeha offered a toast Emily's way and received a smile in turn, along with the lift of a half-empty glass.

"Pass that over to the boys. They're busy arguing about what constitutes proper Christmas food." The redhead's tone made it clear she had her own opinions on the matter, but decided discretion was the better part of valor.

That and the fact that Lena slept like a stone.

Chuckling to herself, Fareeha wound her way around a table full of food and White Elephant gifts to Mei and Winston, who were trying to build something incredibly complicated out of a gingerbread house set together. She squinted to figure out the design, but couldn't make sense of it until leaning over the top.

"Is that supposed to be one of those modular moon houses?" A glance at Winston's scribbled napkin notes confirmed that much, and Fareeha held out the jug in her hand as an offering. "Need some inspiration?"

"If only we could balance the lack of gravity with-" Mei paused as the eggnog came into her field of view. "Oh, yes, please."

"I'm afraid human alcohol tends to have an adverse effect on me." Winston admitted with a sheepish grin. "But feel free to drink for me in spirit."

"Nice pun." Fareeha remarked, then took a long, celebratory sip.

Mei's giggling and Winston's confusion as she walked away proved he hadn't quite meant to make the joke, but Fareeha was too determined to make the rounds to everyone before the night ended, and didn't stop to explain. She followed a grumbling Western accent to where Jesse was sitting next to Genji, the bottles between the two of them already bone-dry.

"Fried chicken? It sounds good, but I just don't get it." Rubbing his beard in contemplation, Jesse shook his head. "Maybe we could make a trade."

"I remember how you cooked our Blackwatch rations." The flicker of light behind Genji's visor betrayed his amusement. "I will pass."

"At least Fareeha's here to save us." Jesse waved her way, then put his hands together like he was in prayer. "And with the good stuff."

It was a bit trickier to pour eggnog down a bottleneck, but Fareeha managed without more than a few drops spilling. "You'll have to trade me too. Where's our esteemed doctor?"

"Angela's out watching the snowfall." Jesse said.

Genji seconded the comment with a nod, then added, "I think the festivities were getting to be a bit much for her."

Fareeha knew most holidays were hard for Angela, especially the ones that revolved around family. After Ana disappeared -- not dead now, she knew, but gone nonetheless -- Fareeha had felt much the same way, and took a moment to sober her thoughts before stepping out onto the balcony. Freezing wind whipped back and forth, taking a flurry of snowflakes with it, and Angela's black coat was nearly cloaked in white.

"I hope I'm not interrupting." Fareeha said softly.

Angela stiffened a little in surprise, but when she turned around, there was a small and genuine smile on her lips. "Not at all. Come to warm me up?"

"I have just the thing." Gesturing with the eggnog, Fareeha closed the distance between them, and was suddenly grateful for the heavy leather of her jacket. "But you'll have to drink before the others get to it."

They stood there, shoulder to shoulder, and exchanged the bottle back and forth until there was nothing left. It wasn't the first time the two of them had ended up like this, pressed close and quiet, eyes off in the distance. Fareeha thought the snow was beautiful, but looking there when Angela was right beside her was harder than it should have been.

Someone moved first. Fareeha thought it might have been her with one arm slipping around Angela's shoulders, but Angela's cheek was already a cold pressure against hers, so the other way around might have been true. Either way, it meant being close enough for their breaths to mingle in the air. Their lips may have brushed, seeking heat, before Jesse opened the balcony door and called for them to come inside and swap gifts.

But it wasn't their first kiss.

That wouldn't have counted the Halloween party just weeks back, when Fareeha found Angela playing the wicked witch again. She refused to wear any other costume for the occasion, although parts of it were occasionally remade anew. It was charming in a way, although Fareeha couldn't attest to the same sartorial devotion every year. This time, she had paired up with Lena to dress as fighter pilots from an old movie, and was glad the Watchpoint was lit bright enough to prevent the sunglasses from leaving her stumbling around in the dark.

Peering over dark lenses, she gave Angela a casual up-and-down look. "Did you actually bring a broom this time?"

"Considering how much you teased me for it previously, yes." With one brow raised, Angela snagged her Valkyrie staff from just out of view, now repurposed with a wooden handle and real bristles. "This was a prototype I discarded, but has now found new life in making my costume culturally appropriate."

Fareeha couldn't help but laugh, noticing the faint pink tinge to Angela's cheeks. "You didn't have to take me that seriously."

"It was fun." Angela admitted with a shrug, then swung the broom upside down, bringing it right up under Fareeha's chin. "If you don't watch out, I'll take you flying away with me."

The threat was a tease, one Fareeha answered by gesturing down to her patch-covered flight suit. "At least I'm dressed for the occasion, right?"

Lena dragged her away a moment later for pictures, and while it took hours to get through the food, drinks, and games everyone had planned, Fareeha wasn't entirely surprised when she ended up back in Angela's orbit. They were both a little too old for the trays of orange jello shots going around, but Reinhardt always brought his favorite brews from Oktoberfest to share with everyone, and Fareeha could never pass up a gift from the old man.

There was only one couch that wasn't covered in fake spiderwebs and plastic bats, and it was small enough to leave them sitting knee-to-knee. Angela's hat was a touch crooked after a busy evening, but she playfully bat away Fareeha's attempt to fix it, raising the dark bottle in her hand instead.

"To avoiding the hangover." Angela laughed softly, waiting for glass to clink on glass before taking a long gulp. " _Mein Gott_ , that's strong."

"I think Reinhardt forgets not all of us are seven foot plus and three hundred pounds." Fareeha murmured, although she couldn't argue about the taste. "Not that it stopped me from trying to get there as a teenager."

Bright blue eyes went wide. "You're tall enough in the Raptora suit, thank you."

"Too tall for you to patch up, doc?" With a wink, Fareeha hid her own fluster with another sip of beer. "I think you do just fine."

"Don't joke about that. I worry about you." Angela cleared her throat softly, staring right down the neck of her own bottle. "When you're in the air, I mean."

Fareeha nudged her knee against Angela's, writing off the reminder that they were already thigh to thigh. "Hey, don't worry. We're on the ground right now."

"Yet I still feel off-balance." Her voice was softer now, and Fareeha didn't miss the sweep Angela's gaze did around the room, seeing who was gone and who was busy.

"I'll keep you steady." Fareeha whispered, wishing the warm knot of tension in the center of her chest would settle between anticipation and fear. "Bring you back down to earth."

When Angela leaned close, the brim of her hat brushed against Fareeha's hair, and the golden ornaments there gently jingled together. "You're drunk."

"I'm not that drunk." Not on alcohol anyway, not with their lips inches apart. "Just hold onto me."

She kissed the witch, but it was late and no one had seen. They were other people for the night, anyway, and it didn't have to mean anything.

So it wasn't their first.

Maybe she shouldn't have counted the time Angela gave her CPR as a kiss, but Fareeha was so used to the Valkyrie suit doing the resurrection work that waking up with Angela's mouth on hers and a sharp boost of adrenaline cutting through logical thought meant the two concepts ended up a little tangled in her mind.

"Fareeha." Her vision was still a haze, swathes of gold and light. "Can you breathe?"

The first attempt was met with a ripple of fire through Fareeha's nerves, stretched all the way across her ribs, but the air in her lungs was a relief anyway. "Yeah. Kind of."

"Good. Talon shut down the system in my suit, so I couldn't..." Angela squeezed the bridge of her nose as if that would force the tension out of the rest of her body. "I had to do things the old-fashioned way. I've called for evac."

Fareeha tried to nod, but the mangled remains of her helmet made the gesture impossible. "I made a bad call. Shouldn't have gone in for that last volley."

"You didn't do anything wrong. They severed our connection at the last minute." After an irritated knock against her halo, a bit of static jumped from Angela's fingertips. "One second, my diagnostic unit is almost back online."

"I always thought that was just for show." Fareeha joked, knowing it was best to keep her mind occupied, clinging to consciousness. "Took me years to realize it's actually a vital part of the suit."

"A good surgeon reconciles her god complex with the needs of her patients, Fareeha." Cybernetic enhancement flickered through Angela's eyes, scanning data to feed back into the Valkyrie's programs. "Although thankfully it looks like I won't have to do any surgery on you."

Fareeha had to take a few more deep breaths to speak again, but she was determined to get the words out. "Shame. I was looking forward to a robot arm or two."

The smallest chuckle from Angela made the attempt well-worth it. When the Overwatch evacuation team dropped in beside them, Fareeha found it harder and harder to keep her eyes open, forced to stay still while being eased onto a stretcher. Before they buckled her in for the ride ahead, Angela gently brushed a black lock of sweat-damp hair away from her face, the gesture absent but tender.

"We'll get you patched up." A medic tapped Angela on the arm, and she pulled away from the stretcher. "Get some rest, Fareeha."

It was less about falling asleep and more like surrendering to the dull void of fatigue taking over her entire body, but Fareeha gave in the second she was given permission. The world was dark and disconnected, yet she had a warm moment to cling to, the memory of careful hands and a soft, seeking mouth.

So that definitely wasn't their first, but there really was something poetic about Angela's lips bringing her back to life.

Never mind the dream Fareeha had after accepting her commission with Overwatch, when a lifelong pursuit finally became a reality. Years had passed since she'd even _seen_ Angela as anything more than a face on the news, and even then the media tended to use clips from ages ago, playing up old fears surrounding the organization. There was a disconnect in her head between the seventeen year old excited for medical school and the surgeon giving testimony before the United Nations with a tense jaw, words chosen with clinical precision, but that paled in comparison to seeing Angela now, a woman who renewed her vows to an organization she once condemned before the whole world.

She was older, yet it didn't show. The razor's edge of exhaustion had fallen off Angela's face, replaced by a steel spine of confidence, one that could only come from bearing the worst and pushing through. Fareeha knew the transformation well, having found a kernel of truth in Ana's angry words from so long ago: she really hadn't been ready to join Overwatch then, but after serving with Helix and seeing the worst Talon could do, it felt like coming home.

"Fareeha." Out of the well-heeled Valkyrie suit, the top of Angela's head barely made it up to her collarbone; that in particular had changed too. "You look well."

"I'm where I want to be, which helps." Fareeha was pretty sure the Overwatch hoodie Winston had left in her room was a gift rather than standard issue, but that hadn't stopped her from immediately putting it on. "Does my physical go through you, doc?"

"It certainly does, considering this Watchpoint isn't fully staffed yet." With a soft laugh, Angela gestured to the far door with her tablet. "Follow me."

Of course it was platonic, the very definition of professional. Fareeha never expected otherwise, but she also hadn't expected to sleep that night in her new bunk and dream about a woman she hadn't spoken to in more than a decade. Angela's presence was enough of a surprise, but the kiss -- and everything that followed after -- was enough for Fareeha to wake up in a cold and thoroughly flustered sweat. She resolved to put the image out of her mind, not wanting to jeopardize the position she'd finally earned.

By some measure though, it was a first, the spark of feeling that drove her forward.

Yet it was nothing like now, with Angela pressed up onto the limit of white heels to meet her lips, hands grasping at the lapels of her coat. There was no alcohol, no pain, no hesitation, only a warmth Fareeha had chased for years but never quite been able to capture. She returned the kiss with slow and careful intent, cupping Angela's cheek to tilt her head just so. One fell into another, and it was easy, doubtless, _right_.

"I missed you." Angela whispered against her mouth, too soft for anyone else in the world to hear. "I know that's silly to say when the two of us have been seeing each other, but I feel like I've been missing you for so long."

"I know exactly what you mean." Fareeha didn't dare to be louder, refusing to let this moment break without inscribing every second to memory. "Maybe it just wasn't time yet."

"Is it time now?" Angela paused for a breath. "Please say yes."

"If you want it to be." With a smile, Fareeha's thumb brushed over Angela's cheek, framing the rush of heat there. "You don't have to go home alone."

The next kiss was a confirmation, firm and sweet. Fareeha let her hand fall, but it was only to take Angela's fingers between her own, linking them tightly together. For a second, they couldn't figure out how to take a step further on the sidewalk without looking at each other, laughing as shoulder bumped shoulder.

"We have to _get_ home first." Angela's chastising was a blatant tease. "It's a good thing it's spring, or we'd freeze solid before making it there."

"I know you said no work talk on dates, but if I had the Raptora suit..." Fareeha began, feigning a rueful smile when the other woman raised a brow.

"Don't you know, Fareeha?" With a tug on her hand, the two of them finally started to walk. "I always feel like I'm flying with you."

As firsts went, there really couldn't be better.

\--


End file.
